1. What Shall I Do With My Tongue? when you have to speak and you have no idea what to say Ruth Levitsky askgoddess@aol.com Region 7 Toastmasters Conference June 10-11, 2005

2. Relative to size, the strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. http://facts.300.ca/body/

3. Who Told You You Had to Speak? What are the consequences?? What does your audience want? What does your audience need?

4. Are YOU wanted for failure to GET TO THE DARN POINT?

5. Developing your Speech with Others Getting opinions to find the “hot topics” Email Instant Messenger Starbucks

6. Timing Is Everything We speak at a rate of 150-200 words per minute. You don’t have to put EVERYTHING in your talk. How much time do you really have? Don’t waste a lot of time playing with PowerPoint or the internet before you have developed your message! Remember what life was like before you had these toys!

7. To Whom Are You Really Talking? How do you gain instant credibility?

8. Table Topic Talk about your ______________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ What makes _________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________

9. Get Reliable Information Google.com doesn’t have all the answers Let your local reference librarian help

10. Tools for Figuring out What You Want to Say Free writing PowerPoint (index cards work well too) Idea Wheels/Mind Maps Roger Von Oech’s Creative Whack Pack

11. Dr. Borden’s Formula 1. Ho hum! 2. Why bring that up? 3. For instance! 4. So what?

12. What Does Your Audience Need to Know? Audience management Set expectations up front Handouts

13. The Art of Realistic Rehearsing Creating the rehearsal environment Rehearsing in a way that works for you

14. Table Topic Do you _____________________________ __________________________________ In _________________________________ Why is _____________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________

15. Tongue Twister How many yaks could a yak pack pack if a yak pack could pack yaks?

16. Be Inspired by Limits Can you live with projecting your PowerPoint slides on the stripped wall of a hotel? Is the support you have really YoYo?

17. How Do You Know if the Audience Is Getting It? If the audience doesn’t get it, it’s not the audience’s fault. Know your evaluation criteria upfront. If it’s a contest, study a copy of the ballot. If it’s a workshop, get a copy of the workshop evaluation.

18. Table Topics Does your ___________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ How can you ________________________ __________________________________ Have you ever _______________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ Do you know ________________________

19. If you can’t be a good example… you’ll just have to serve as a horrible warning (after Catherine Aird) Notice what good speakers do, too.